This time of year will "never be as it should", the parents of missing Madeleine McCann have said as they prepare for a sixth Christmas without their daughter.
Kate and Gerry McCann said the eldest child's absence is acutely felt by the family, including by younger siblings Sean and Amelie, with the words "If only Madeleine was here too" regularly spoken.
In a Christmas message written on the Find Madeleine website, Mrs McCann thanked people for their support and said they remained hopeful the Portuguese authorities would reopen the case.
Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007, as her parents dined at a tapas restaurant nearby.
The McCanns have campaigned tirelessly for information about their daughter's whereabouts, battling for a review by the Metropolitan Police, which has now been under way for more than 18 months.
Mrs McCann wrote: "As we approach the end of another year, we'd like to thank everyone again for their amazing support.
"It is both heart-warming and reassuring to know that after all this time Madeleine still remains in so many people's hearts and minds. This solidarity and commitment gives us great hope."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article